Poe’s stories of terror can be read as mere horror stories, but many of them can also be interpreted symbolically. On one level, this is the story of a man tortured at the hands of the Inquisition. On another level, some critics read it as the story of a man who dies, almost loses his soul to Hell, and is rescued at the end by God. What is your interpretation? Consider that the primary dilemma of the narrator is that he is caught between the seemingly bottomless pit and the slowly descending pendulum. What do these two horrors represent? Also consider Madness vs. reason/sanity as a possible theme.
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